Train-the-trainer evaluation session in Norway

A combined training and dissemination event took place at Stjordal (Norway) on October 8 and 9, 2007. The event was organized as an interactive seminar. The first day focused on using video services as effective tools for transfer of competence and knowledge, while the second day focused towards transfer of production knowledge in the mechanical industry. The participants were 30 professionals, most of them teachers. The event was led by ELS and QM-Software. The event was organized as a practical demonstration followed up with round ta-ble discussions with the participants. This solution promoted high interaction and engagement from the audience, as well as direct feedback from the participants on the proposed methodologies and use of technology. Based on participants feedback, which was generated through a one hour discussion with participants, the consortium partners are able to adjust the presentation for future activi-ties and select demonstrative examples that meet the needs of participants in a more effective manner.

The evaluation results were very positive. The participants noted that it was a very well organized and motivating seminar, if providing very good examples of the capabilities of VCC technology in educational settings, that the information received would be of value to their collegues as well, and requested a follow up session to take place on one year's time.

Evaluation session in Slovenia

The Slovenian evaluation session took place on June 5 and 6, 2008 under the leadership of IzV and Mr. Gabriel Rihar. The title of the delivered course was: Improvement of quality assurance of out-sourced production processes (QAWP). In addition to validating the particular proof-of-concept course developed for the purposes of GLOBALMAT, the session also evaluated the ABT methodologies for content organization around short and focused modules. The participants were 24 professionals from the welding sector. The session included a variety of activities, including tradtional isntruction, workshops, idividual work, etc. It generated very positive results through the filling in of questionnaires. The results are available through the GLOBALMAT Evaluation Report.

Evaluation session in Portugal

This course covered the Quality Assurance in welding fabrication material. Two sessions took place: one on the 8th and one on the 9th of October 2008, each of which lasted for two hours. Each session included a separate group of participants while the content presented was the same. Two sessions were planned to achieve a higher participation of learners and a wider input generation. The participants were 70 young engineers. The session generated positive results. Furthermore, as compared to the results of the Slovenian session, it generated interesting feedback on the comptetence level that required among ABT participants in order to achieve maximum gains. Specifically, the consortium discovered that more experienced professionals are likely to benefit more from ABT as the methodology revolves around short and focused modules that can be better exploited by individuals that already have a background on the topic covered.

The FMC session

The FMC session was a long, on-going process that started in January 2008 and continued until the end of the project implementation period in October 2008. Preparation of the session involved a rigorous technical setup of video conferencing equipment at the premises of the participants. This technical installation was necessary and acted as a proof ofconcept demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed GLOBALMAT video-conferencing solutions as effective communication tools for know-how transfer in real-life business settings. The final evaluation event took place on September 23, 2008 and involved engineers from Greenland Group and FMC that work together on design issues for offshore platform developments in the context of standing contracts. The session was very interesting as it tested the GLOBALMAT communication frameworks (semantic interoperability) in an actual real life business scenario. At the end of the session the participants filled in questionnaires. They gave externely positive results on the GLOBALMAT communication methodologies and the proposed deployment of VCC technology for distance collaboration in outsourcing scenarios.